Joss Whedon has admitted that he almost quit his TV career after the cancellation of his series Firefly and Dollhouse.

He told The Sydney Morning Herald that the double axe was a blow to his confidence.

"I stopped having ideas, which for me is an extremely rare experience," he said. "It was something much more subtle [than losing hope], it took away my ability to think in terms of episodic television [at all]. For years."

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He added that that Fox's cancellation of Firefly in 2002 is "still the greatest grief I have about my career".

Whedon explained that he had been pessimistic about his career prospects until being hired by Marvel to direct The Avengers.

He explained: "Honestly, this year with my career, I've been going, 'OK, is it over? Are they done with me and is it time for me to start doing really small [projects] or make a graceful exit?'"